Just a quick question/discussion - I've seen the obvious effect of having a flashlight shone on you when looking down a FLIR sight, and it's hideous, but in my experience about 1 in 100 players actually use a FLIR. In BF3 the shine effect from flashlights was all-encompassing and about as debillitating as being kept under heavy LMG suppression, but...

... how bad can the flash blinding in BF4 get if you're just using regular sights?

I'm mostly wondering if there's some kind of graphic settings that are affected by blinding more than others, because in all the time I've been playing BF4 so far I don't remember a single time a flashlight has done anything to me other than say "hi I'm over here in this bush". I love the idea of the Tactical Light in principle as an extra help to win close-mid range duels, but I get the feeling the glare is insignificant.

Anyone got any stories or screenshots to justify why you'd ever want to use a Flash/Tac light for blinding purposes?

To me the flashlight is a dead giveaway "most" times...same with the laser site....When people camp way across the map with a flashlight is just makes em an easy target. The most effective way i've found to use the flashlight is to use it with the Ambient Lighting Effects around different maps...Example all the shadowy area of maps....It's a great suprise tool when chasing enemies down dark hallways. Just make sure it's off so you don't give yourself away! When the time is right you can pop on your light, scare the shit outta em and light em up!

No. He doesn't seem to know how the spread mechanic works. Spread increases per shot, so if you start off with less spread (like with the laser) you are more accurate for several shots, not just the first.

The laser reduces the minimum hipfire spread by 50%. This means the starting spread is much smaller and, due to the way spread works, it still only increases by a set amount (usually .1 per shot) for every consecutive bullet you fire. It does not revert back to the original spread for every consecutive shot after the first like you say it does.

Keep the laser off unless it's an enemy who is already aware of your position and you're just about to enter into a hip firing situation. Then it's valuable not so much for the blinding effect but for the hip fire accuracy bonus.

I don't know, I feel like they should've employed some kind of HDR to those flashlights instead of just dumbing them down so bad. What I mean is that if somebody shone one on you, they would be very blinding for a small amount of time (a second?) and your eyes would adjust to that afterwards so that it wouldn't be as blinding. Moreover, their effect would only be as pronounced in darker areas, like inside buildings, since if you were outside (where the sun shines) your eyes would already be adjusted to it.

Dynamic contrast is heavily reduced in BF4 compared to BF3 and is part of the reason why people are so hard to see. It was overkill for them to remove the blue tint and the dynamic contrast so I hope they reimplement a lesser version of these two soon.

I think tactical flashlights work a treat on CQ game modes and maps. It may only act as a slight distraction to the enemy player as you suddenly shine the light on to them but sometimes that tiny split second is enough to make you win the fight. It's also useful for when someone shoots the lights out on Operation Locker or Dawnbreaker for example.

I started using the laser sight/ flash light combination, I switch to the flash light in close quarters and blind people when they come around the corner to mow them down, and switch to the laser sight for great hip firing accuracy right after when distance becomes a factor, that and so I don't stand out in a crowd running around with a flash light on. It seemed like a retarded add on at first but I actually really like it!